The ones that suited my voice, and they had to hang together. I wanted it to be a whole album. Roscoe [Beck] and I had been in Leonard’s band for the Field Commander Cohen tour, so we knew the songs. It wasn’t like we casually cherry-picked a few – we knew exactly which ones had to be and delivered a kind of musical payoff. Leonard is not known for his great melodies, but he actually is a great melody writer. If you take the words off and just listen to the melodies, he’s really, really good. It’s just not known, because we’re so distracted by the poetry.

Jennifer Warnes

Jennifer Warnes by Carl Wiser (Songfacts: April 13, 2018) is an informative and entertaining interview with Jennifer Warnes about working with Leonard Cohen, her musical history, and her impending album, Another Time, Another Place. The entire piece, available at the link, is a highly recommended read.

More than 30 years after its initial release, Famous Blue Raincoat — particularly in its original vinyl Cypress Records version and its more recent Impex 45-rpm wax reissue — remains an aural benchmark among audiophiles, who cite its pristine engineering and mastering by studio legend Bernie Grundman.

Raincoat speaks also to listeners who care less about sonic quality than they do about good, solid pop music. Its centerpiece is Warnes’ own “Song of Bernadette,” co-written with Cohen on a bus during his 1979 European tour. An exquisite composition since covered by Judy Collins, Bette Midler, Anne Murray, Linda Ronstadt, and Aaron Neville, among many others, “Bernadette” recalls the sainted woman who “saw the queen of Heaven once,” a vision she steadfastly refused to deny. The song’s proto-feminist message alone ought to have secured its parent disc a place on Powers’ list.

Because I may not know music, but I know what you should like… and where to find it

This is a very good audience recording.of Jennifer Warnes’ “Famous Blue Raincoat” LP Showcase, Park-Café, Munich, West Germany; April 15, 1987. “Famous Blue Raincoat” is, of course, an album of Jennifer Warnes’ performances of songs by Leonard Cohen.

From the download site:

In January 1987, Jennifer Warnes released her sixth studio album, Famous Blue Raincoat, a tribute to Leonard Cohen, with whom she had toured as a backup singer in the 1970s. The idea for the album originated when Cohen assisted Warnes with the lyrics of “Song of Bernadette” while on tour in 1979. Warnes is probably best known for her duet with Joe Cocker on Up Where We Belong, which appeared in the 1982 movie, An Officer and a Gentleman.

The recording includes Leonard Cohen’s introduction of Jennifer Warnes, in which he sardonically informs the audience they can continue to laugh and talk as well as expressing his discontent with his record label.

The files are already in MP3 format available for download directly from the site, thus avoiding the need to enter codes, decompress the files, or deal with the hassles of services such as Rapidshare. The files are also tagged (correctly, as far as I can determine) with the name of the song, the artist, and “Leonard Cohen – Birmingham 1979” listed as the album name. Only the cover art, available on site, need be added post-download.

In the 1960s the relentlessly introspective, dark-toned songs of Leonard Cohen made him a cult figure. He seemed, in fact, on the verge of becoming the American incarnation of Kurt Weill … His cult has continued, albeit with limitations, but he never became the major focus of attention that this marvelous album of his songs will make him if there’s any justice in the pop music world. (That is, of course, a big “if.”)

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Songs For Rebecca, a 1970s Leonard Cohen-John Lissauer project, was abruptly abandoned after several songs were recorded. Find out how it began & ended, which songs were recorded & what happened to them, and listen to a recording of a live performance of those songs: Leonard Cohen’s Lost Album: Songs For Rebecca

Leonard Cohen’s Passionate Version Of “So Long, Marianne”

Leonard Cohen has performed many versions of "So Long, Marianne." The 1993 Oslo concert rendition includes not only a radically different arrangement but also two verses not found on any album. The impact is dramatic.

Leonard Cohen On His Songs

In Memory Of Leonard Cohen

Since Leonard Cohen's death Nov 7, 2016, I've developed a list of selected articles and posts that are especially informative, gracious, interesting, or evocative. The complete list with live links can be found at In Memory Of Leonard Cohen

In Memory Of Marianne Ihlen, Leonard Cohen’s Muse

Marianne Ihlen, immortalized in “So Long, Marianne,” died July 28, 2016. She was a frequent visitor to this site and much beloved. Revealing posts about her and Leonard can be found at

The Cohen-Dylan Interface

The only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and you say 'Look, I don’t understand a fucking thing at all – Hallelujah!'

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Leonard Cohen’s Montreal

The best articles about Leonard Cohen’s Montreal homes and haunts as well as videos and a list of pertinent landmarks.